Spinner toy with sparking device



Nov. 28, 1961 J. ELLMAN ETAL SPINNER TOY WITH SPARKING DEVICE Filed Aug.3, 1959 12 42 FIG INVENTORi JUL/U5 ELLMAN. GEORGE LERNER.

ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,010,248 SPINNER TOY WITH SPARKING DEVICEJulius Ellman, 1672 E. 7th St, Brooklyn 30, N.Y., and George Lerner, 12Prospect Court, Freeport, N.Y. Filed Aug. 3, 1959, Ser. No. 831,102 2Claims. (Cl. 46-48) This invention relates to toys and, moreparticularly, to a whirling or spinning type toy.

Spinning type toys have always been a source of entertainment tochildren, especially manually operated spinning devices having audibleor visible signal features which increase the novelty of the toy. It is,therefore, an object of the present invention to provide the manuallyoperated whirling toy having completely self-contained signal elementswhich are responsive to the rotation of the toy.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a whirling toyhaving a main body portion that is completely enclosed, within which asparkler device is supported for emitting sparks within the housing thatare visible from the exterior of the housing, so as to preventaccidental injury to persons operating or observing the operation of thetoy.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a whirlingtype sparkler toy of the type described having a completelyself-contained clutch assembly for actuating the sparkler device onlyduring a change in the direction of rotation of the main body of thetoy, and for only short periods of time, so as to prolong the usefullife of the toy and to increase its novelty attraction.

An additional object of the present invention is to provide aself-contained and illuminated whirling toy of the above type which isoperated by means of a pair of twisted flexible cable elements whichcontinuously rotate the main body member in alternately oppositedirections, so that during the transition from rotation in one directionto another, the sparkler device supported therewithin will produce avisible sparkling efiect that may be observed from all sides of the toy.

All of the foregoing and still further objects and advantages of thisinvention will become apparent from a study of the followingspecification, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing,wherein:

FIG. 1 is a front plan view of a whirling toy made in accordance withthe present invention.

FIG. 2 is a transverse cross-sectional view taken along line 22 of FIG.1.

FIG. 3 is a transverse cross-sectional View taken along line 3-3 of FIG.1.

FIG. 4 is a transverse cross-sectional view taken along line 4-4 of FIG.3.

FIG. 5 is a transverse cross-sectional view taken along line 55 of PEG.4.

Referring now to the drawing, and more particularly to FIGS. 1 and 4thereof, a whirling toy made in accordance with the present invention isshown to include a main body member having a hollow base 12 with aninwardly recessed marginal portion 14 that is frictionally receivedwithin the opening defining portions of a similar cover member 16, bothof which elements when secured together in the manner illustrated,define an interior compartment 15. At least one and preferably both ofthe base and cover members 12, 16 are constructed from a lighttransmitting material, such as molded plastic material, for purposeshereinafter described.

An inwardly projecting hollow post member 18 integral 1 with the base 12has an innermost extremity that is slidably received within the socket20 of a sleeve 22 which is integral with the cover member 16. Thus, boththe post ice 18 and sleeve 22 define a central shaft which is coaxialwith the axis of rotation of the main body member.

The innermost extremity of the sleeve 22 is provided with a radiallyoutwardly extending flange 24 that forms an abutment for one end of acompression coil spring 26 which encircles the post 18 and is seated atits opposite end against the facing side of a circular disc 28. Thisdisc 28 has an enlarged central opening 29 which loosely rotatablyreceives the post 18 therethrough so as to be freely rotatably mountedupon the post 18 for movement relative thereto and to allow for slightangling movement of the disc upon the post. The side of the disc 28opposite the side in abutment with the compression coil spring 26, iscoated with a friction material 30 for reaction with flint segments 32extending inwardly of and secured to the base member 12, such as bycement 33. It will thus be recognized that relative rotation between themain body member and the disc 28 produces a rubbing action between thefriction surface 30 and the flint segments 32, thus producing asparkling effect of a well known type. The sparks emanating therefrom,that is from this source of illumination, are thus clearly visibleoutwardly through the light transmitting base and cover members 12, 16.

The sleeve 22 is provided with a pair of diametrically oppositelyopening bores 34 through which a pair of flexible cables 38 areextended. One end of the flexible cables 3-8 extend outwardly through alongitudinal bore 39 in the post 18, while the opposite ends of theflexible cable 38 extend outwardly through a pair of diametricallyoppositely arranged openings 36 in the cover member 16. A pair ofhandles 40 are secured, one at each end of the flexible cables 38, formanual manipulation in the manner hereinafter described.

It will now be recognized that by grasping the handles 40 in both hands,and spinning the main body member with respect thereto, that the cables38 will become twisted. Thus, by exerting an outward pull upon thehandles 40, the twisted cables 38 are urged toward an initial untwistedposition, thus effecting rotation of the main body member about itslongiudinal axis of rotation. The compression coil spring 26 acts as afriction clutch by exerting sufiicient pressure upon the disc 28 tonormally cause it to frictionally engage with the flint segments 32sufliciently to prevent relative rotation between the disc 28 and themain body member during rotation in the same direction. However, as soonas the direction of rotation of the main body member is reversed, thedisc 28 acts as a fly wheel to continue rotation temporarily in the samedirection until its inertia is overcome, thus causing the frictionsurface 30 thereof to rub against the flint segments 32 carried by thecover member 12, to produce a series of sparks. This burst of sparks isof short duration, however, because of the frictional action between thefriction surface 30 and the flint segments 32, which coaction isincreased by the coil spring 26, thus quickly causing the fly wheeldisc-28 to reverse its direction of rotation and rotate with the mainbody member until the direction of rotation of the main body member isagain reversed by a'subsequent pulling upon the handles 40.

During rotation of the main body member, a pair of diametricallyoppositely disposed projections 42 integral with the cover member 16produce a whistling sound which further adds to the attractiveness andnovelty of the toy.- Since the entire main body member is com-- areclearly visible through the light transmitting material of the main bodymember. The flexible cable 38 may be conveniently constructed from anytype of twine, plastic, or wire material which is sufliciently flexibleto provide for the continuous twisting and untwisting of the cable Inuse.

While this invention has been described with particular reference to theconstruction shown in the drawing, it is to be understood that such isnot to be construed as imparting limitations upon the invention, whichis best defined by the claims appended hereto. 7

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire tosecured by Letters Patent is:

1. An amusement device comprising, in combination, a main body member,drive means for effecting rotation of said main body member inalternately opposite direction, signal means carried by said main bodymember, and clutch means responsive to changes in the direction ofrotation of said main body member to actuate said signal means duringthe reversal of the direction of rotation of said main body member, saidmain body member comprising a hollow housing, a shaft assembly extendingaxially through said hollow housing, and said signal means beingrotatably supported upon said shaft within said housing, said hollowhousing comprising wall portions of light transmitting construction, andsaid signal means comprising a source of illumination visible throughsaid wall portions of said housing, said drive means comprising aplurality of lengths of flexible cable extending through said shaft, allof said lengths of flexible cable intermediate the opposite endsthereof, being drivingly connected to portions of said housing and beingradially spaced outwardly from the longitudinal axis of said housing, apair of handles each secured to the opposite 1ongitudinal extremity ofsaid lengths of cable, whereby said rotation of said main body member inone direction relative to said handles effects a twisting of saidlengths of said flexible cable in said one direction, and a pull uponsaid twisted lengths of flexible cable by outward movement of saidhandles in opposite directions effects rotation of said main body memberin an opposite direction to untwist said cable from said one directionand to twist said cable in an opposite direction upon continued rotationof said main body member in said opposite direction, said source ofillumination comprising a fly wheel rotatably carried upon said shafthaving a friction surface on one side, and a plurality of flint segmentscarried by said main body member within said hollow housing in facingengagement with said friction surface, said clutch means comprising aspring acting between said main body member and said fly wheel yieldablyurging said friction surface of said fly Wheel into contact with saidflint segments, said spring yieldably securing said fly wheel upon saidshaft in rotation with said main body member and allowing continuedrotation of said fly wheel relative to said flint segments in onedirection momentarily in response to reversal of the direction ofrotation of said main body member.

2. An amusement device as set forth in claim 1 wherein said spring meanscomprises a compression coil spring encircling said shaft, one end ofsaid compression coil spring being seated against said housing, and theopposite extremity of said compression coil spring being seated inabutment with the side of said fly wheel opposite said friction surface.

Great Britain June 30, 1927

